Interagro owner starts tomato greenhouse farming in Zimnicea

Ioan Niculae, the owner of the Interagro group will start growing tomatoes in Zimnicea in the first month of next year, with about 400 tonnes of tomatoes scheduled to be delivered on the domestic market by the end of 2011.
The greenhouse to be used for tomatoes had been initially designed for roses, but the very high costs made Niculae change his mind and go for organic tomatoes instead.
The company will start planting in the first ten days of January and the first crop will be ready by the end of March. "The greenhouse is designed for two production cycles a year - January-June and July-November. We expect a crop of about 400 tonnes of tomatoes in 2011, to be sold on the domestic market exclusively," Interagro officials say.
According to the data supplied by Interagro as provided by the Agriculture Ministry, the domestic tomato yield stood at about 500,000 tonnes in the first nine months of this year, with another about 52,000 tonnes imported. At an estimated consumption of some 700,000 tonnes in 2010 and average price of 3.5 RON/kilo, this year's tomato market could be put at 2.5 billion RON (584 million euros).